The present invention relates, in general, to sundials, and more particularly to sundials having an improved columnar construction which permits an accurate determination of time and date.
Although spot projection sundials have been known in the art for many years, as evidenced by U.S. Pat. No. 89,585 to Johnson, such devices have not always been satisfactory since they were often difficult to read, and were not suitable for use at a variety of latitudes. In particular, they often could not be used at low or southerly latitudes, where the sun is high at summer solstice, and thus projects almost straight down into the sundial, making it very difficult to obtain a reading. Similarly, at high, or northerly latitudes, the sun is low, and does not project sufficiently far into many sundial devices.
A further problem with prior devices occurred because of the difficulty in making a sundial that would not only be relatively inexpensive, but would be accurate, easy to read and easy for the user to set up.